A social networking system provides relevant third-party content objects to users by matching user location, interests, and other social information with the content, location, and timing associated with the content objects. Content objects are provided based on relevance scores specific to a user. Relevance scores may be calculated based on the user's previous interactions with content object notifications, or based on interests that are common between the user and his or her connections in the social network. Context search is also provided for a user, wherein a list of search of results is ranked according to the relevance score of content object associated with the search results. Notifications may also be priced and distributed to users based on their relevance. In this way, the system can provide notifications that are relevant to user's interests and current circumstances, increasing the likelihood that they will find content objects of interest.
Legal claims defining the scope of protection, as filed with the USPTO.
1. A computer-implemented method comprising: maintaining, at a server, connections between users of a social networking system; identifying, by multiple processors of the server, a second user connected to a first user in the social networking system; identifying, by the multiple processors of the server, an interest of the second user; determining, by the multiple processors of the server, a relevance score for a third-party content object associated with the interest of the second user, the relevance score comprising a measure of likelihood that the second user would be interested in the third-party content object; calculating, by the multiple processors of the server, a weighted relevance score for the third-party content object based on the determined relevance score and a type of relationship between the first user and the second user maintained by the social networking system, the weighted relevance score comprising a measure of likelihood that the first user would be interested in the third-party content object associated with the second user; storing, by the server, the weighted relevance score for the third-party content object associated with the interest of the second user in an account associated with the first user; selecting, by the multiple processors of the server, a plurality of third-party content objects to provide to the first user, the plurality of third-party content objects including the third-party content object associated with the interest of the second user; determining, by the multiple processors of the server, that the second user is at a location associated with the third-party content object; and providing, by the server, the third-party content object to a user device of the first user responsive to the determination.
2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the third-party content object is provided to the user device of the first user based at least in part on the weighted relevance score for the third-party content object.
3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the third-party content object comprises an informational content object describing one of movie show times, movie reviews, restaurant menus, restaurant reviews, product information, or product reviews associated with the common interest.
4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the third-party content object comprises an incentive content object describing one of coupons, discounts, promotions, or gift certificates associated with the common interest.
5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein determining the relevance score for the third-party content object comprises: calculating a relevance score for the third-party content object relative to the second user, the relevance score based on a combination of one or more of the following: a location value for the third-party content object, the location value based on a proximity between the location assigned to the third-party content object and a location associated with the second user; an interest value for the third-party content object, the interest value based on whether a category assigned to the third-party content object is included in one or more categories associated with affinity information for the second user; a time value for the third-party content object, the time value based on whether a current time is within the delivery time range assigned to the third-party content object; and a connection value for the third-party content object, the connection value based on a number of the second user's plurality of connections associated with the third-party content object.
6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising: varying a weight applied to the relevance score based on the type of separation between the first user and the second user.
7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6 , wherein the type of separation further describes one or more degrees of separation between the first user and the second user in the social networking system.
8. The computer-implemented method of claim 3 , wherein providing the third-party content object to the user device of the first user comprises: providing the third-party content object in a search result responsive to a query from the user device of the first user or automatically providing the third-party content object to the user device of the first user.
9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising: determining a list of third-party content objects for the first user based on interests of the first user and based on a common interest between the first user and the second user, the list comprising the third-party content object associated with the common interest.
10. The computer-implemented method of claim 9 , further comprising: ranking a list of third-party content objects to provide to the first user to include the third-party content object associated with the common interest based at least in part on the weighted relevance score.
11. The computer-implemented method of claim 9 , further comprising: identifying an interest of the second user that is related to the common interest; and calculating a relevance score for a second third-party content object associated with the interest of the second user; and determining whether to provide the second third-party content object associated with the interest of the second user based on the relevance score.
12. A computer-program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium including executable code, the code when executed by at least one computer processor causes the computer processor to perform steps comprising: maintaining, at a server, connections between users of a social networking system; identifying, by multiple processors of the server, a second user connected to a first user in the social networking system; identifying, by the multiple processors of the server, an interest of the second user; determining, by the multiple processors of the server, a relevance score for a third-party content object associated with the interest of the second user, the relevance score comprising a measure of likelihood that the second user would be interested in the third-party content object; calculating, by the multiple processors of the server, a weighted relevance score for the third-party content object based on the determined relevance score and a type of relationship between the first user and the second user maintained by the social networking system, the weighted relevance score comprising a measure of likelihood that the first user would be interested in the third-party content object associated with the second user; storing, by the server, the weighted relevance score for the third-party content object associated with the interest of the second user in an account associated with the first user; selecting, by the multiple processors of the server, a plurality of third-party content objects to provide to the first user, the plurality of third-party content objects including the third-party content object associated with the interest of the second user; determining, by the multiple processors of the server, that the second user is at a location associated with the third-party content object; and providing, by the server, the third-party content object to a user device of the first user responsive to the determination.
13. The computer-program product of claim 12 , wherein the third-party content object is provided to the user device of the first user based at least in part on the weighted relevance score for the third-party content object.
14. The computer-program product of claim 12 , wherein the third-party content object comprises an informational content object describing one of movie show times, movie reviews, restaurant menus, restaurant reviews, product information, or product reviews associated with the common interest.
15. The computer-program product of claim 12 , wherein the third-party content object comprises an incentive content object describing one of coupons, discounts, promotions, or gift certificates associated with the common interest.
16. The computer-program product of claim 12 , wherein calculating the relevance score for the third-party content object comprises: calculating a relevance score for the third-party content object relative to the second user, the relevance score based on a combination of one or more of the following: a location value for the third-party content object, the location value based on a proximity between the location assigned to the third-party content object and a location associated with the second user; an interest value for the third-party content object, the interest value based on whether a category assigned to the third-party content object is included in one or more categories associated with affinity information for the second user; a time value for the third-party content object, the time value based on whether a current time is within the delivery time range assigned to the third-party content object; and a connection value for the third-party content object, the connection value based on a number of the second user's plurality of connections associated with the third-party content object.
17. The computer-program product of claim 12 , wherein the code further causes the computer processor to perform steps comprising: varying a weight applied to the relevance score based on the type of separation between the first user and the second user.
18. The computer-program product of claim 12 , wherein the type of separation further describes one or more degrees of separation between the first user and the second user in the social networking system.
19. The computer-program product of claim 12 , wherein the code further causes the computer processor to perform steps comprising: ranking a list of third-party content objects to provide to the first user to include the third-party content object associated with a common interest based at least in part on the weighted relevance score.
20. The computer-program product of claim 19 , wherein the code further causes the computer processor to perform steps comprising: identifying an interest of the second user that is related to the common interest; calculating a relevance score for a second third-party content object associated with the interest of the second user; and determining whether to provide the second third-party content object associated with the interest of the second user based on the relevance score.
Cooperative Patent Classification codes for this invention. Click any code to explore related patents in that topic.
June 3, 2015
November 26, 2019
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